A Comparative Study on the Barter Markets of the Upper Zaïre River

Abstract

An extensive survey of economic anthropology was made along the upper Zaire River. The author found forty-two periodic markets, thirty of which practiced direct barter of fish and farm produce. These barter markets had varied methods of barter and management, and the author compared the results with those of an intensive study on the Songola carried out in 1979 and 1980. Although many of the barter markets were in the process of transformation, a few of them have institutionalized a defense mechanism against cash use, and two of them revived in 1983. The results verified some of the hypotheses obtained through the study of the Songola economy: barter markets in the region are traditional and they have survived the period of colonization. Under today's severe inflation, barter is sometimes more efficient than the use of cash.